WASHINGTON  US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton clarified Wednesday that Washington is committed to preventing Iran from having the capability to make nuclear weapons, not only from their actual construction.

Its absolutely clear that the presidents policy is to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons capability, she told the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, when asked whether the US would allow Iran to become a nuclear threshold state, short of actually building nuclear weapons.

The drawing of a red line with Iran, particularly between having a nuclear weapons capability and having an actual nuclear weapon, is a significant point of discussion between the US and Israel.

Israel would like to see a red line drawn sooner in the nuclear weapons process than many have perceived the US has been willing to do.

that Israel would seek the more explicit and public drawing of such red lines when Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu meets with US President Barack Obama this Monday, coinciding with their participation in the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Washington conference.

When Clinton was asked Wednesday about Americas willingness to make such a public declaration, she responded, Its probably smarter for us to be pressing on the sanctions and the negotiations while we keep our objective of no nuclear capability absolutely clear, instead of setting other benchmarks at this time publicly.

The US and Israel have been involved in intensive discussions in preparation for the two leaders parley next week, which is expected to focus largely on Iran.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak has been in Washington this week meeting with his counterpart Defense Secretary Leon Panetta as well as Vice President Joe Biden, National Security Adviser Tom Donilon and other top military and intelligence officials in consultations ahead of Netanyahus trip.

When Netanyahu comes to Washington next week, it is reported that Obama will press him to not attack Iran's nuclear weapons program yet, and Netanyahu will press Obama to declare at what point the US will be willing to use military force, the Israelis doubting that Obama's declaration that all options are on the table means that the US actually has a red line that will precipitate the use of force.

The closest I can come to believeing this horseshit is that the regime is committed to feeding the public HS that the US is committed to to a policy that prevents Iran from getting nuclear capability.

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Other administration officials are going much further than Clinton.

Obama administration officials are escalating warnings that the US could join Israel in attacking Iran if the Islamic republic doesnt dispel concerns that its nuclear-research program is aimed at producing weapons.

Four days before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is scheduled to arrive in Washington, US Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz told reporters that the Joint Chiefs of Staff have prepared military options to strike Iranian nuclear sites in the event of a conflict.

What we can do, you wouldnt want to be in the area, Schwartz told reporters in Washington Wednesday.

Pentagon officials said military options being prepared start with providing aerial refueling for Israeli planes and also include attacking the pillars of the clerical regime, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its elite Quds Force, regular Iranian military bases and the Ministry of Intelligence and Security. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because Pentagon plans are classified.

Theres no group in America more determined to prevent Iran from achieving a nuclear weapon than the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joint Chiefs Chairman Army General Martin Dempsey told the House Budget Committee yesterday. I can assure you of that.

Separately, unnamed US officials told The Washington Post that US military planners are increasingly confident that sustained attacks with the Air Forces 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs could put Irans deeply buried uranium enrichment plant at Fordo out of

Throughout the ME the Obama administration is increasingly seen as weak and irresolute, so no one is taking Obama's vague statements that "all options are on the table" seriously. Obama tells the Israelis to just follow his lead, but no one knows where he intends to go. Is he planning to accept a nuclear armed Iran if sanctions don't work? Is he willing to allow Iran to acquire everything necessary to build a bomb as long as they don't try to build it now? Or is he determined to prevent Iran from acquiring these technologies? And if sanctions fail to stop Iran's nuclear weapons program, exactly what would trigger a US use of force or a US green light for an Israeli attack? The Obama administration is trying to answer these question in order to regain some of the credibility the US has lost in the ME since Obama took office.

RopeyString tension is not infinite.Gold Supporting MemberSupporting Member

WASHINGTON  US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton clarified Wednesday that Washington is committed to preventing Iran from having the capability to make nuclear weapons, not only from their actual construction.

Its absolutely clear that the presidents policy is to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons capability, she told the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, when asked whether the US would allow Iran to become a nuclear threshold state, short of actually building nuclear weapons.

The drawing of a red line with Iran, particularly between having a nuclear weapons capability and having an actual nuclear weapon, is a significant point of discussion between the US and Israel.

Israel would like to see a red line drawn sooner in the nuclear weapons process than many have perceived the US has been willing to do.

that Israel would seek the more explicit and public drawing of such red lines when Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu meets with US President Barack Obama this Monday, coinciding with their participation in the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Washington conference.

When Clinton was asked Wednesday about Americas willingness to make such a public declaration, she responded, Its probably smarter for us to be pressing on the sanctions and the negotiations while we keep our objective of no nuclear capability absolutely clear, instead of setting other benchmarks at this time publicly.

The US and Israel have been involved in intensive discussions in preparation for the two leaders parley next week, which is expected to focus largely on Iran.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak has been in Washington this week meeting with his counterpart Defense Secretary Leon Panetta as well as Vice President Joe Biden, National Security Adviser Tom Donilon and other top military and intelligence officials in consultations ahead of Netanyahus trip.

When Netanyahu comes to Washington next week, it is reported that Obama will press him to not attack Iran's nuclear weapons program yet, and Netanyahu will press Obama to declare at what point the US will be willing to use military force, the Israelis doubting that Obama's declaration that all options are on the table means that the US actually has a red line that will precipitate the use of force.

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There's some rather thin administrative red lines at the moment imo, but that's the difference between the talk and the walk. It's a Hard Red line vs An Administrative Softening of a Hard Red Line.

Time will tell which previous Hard Red Lines turn Green at the time of needful action.

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